LIBRARY 

(Mivwsity   of 

IRVINE 


LEON    PONTIFEX 


BY 

SARAH  PRATT  MCLEAN  GREENE 

•S&.  -=5 

HOR  OF  "CAPE  COD  FOLKS,"  "LASTCHANCE  JUNCTION,"* 
OTHER  FOLKS,"  "TOWHBAD,"  KTC. 


BOSTON 

DE    WOLFE,     FISKE     &     CO. 
361  AND  365  WASHINGTON  STREET 


COPYRIGHT,  1890, 
BY  DE  WOLFE,  FISKE  &  Co. 


C.  J.  PETERS  &  SON, 

TYPOGRAPHERS  AND  ELECTROTYPERS, 

146  HIOH  STREET,  BOSTON. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  BEULAH  SINGS  "BEULAH  LAND".       ...  5 

II.    AT  THE  BLACKSMITH'S 22 

III.  WINE 36 

IV.  A  FEW  LINES 54 

V.    NED  GRIMMER  IN  PURSUIT 62 

VI.    Miss  BAILEY'S  DISCOVERY 73 

VII.    WIDE  LATITUDE 88 

VIII.  GABRIEL  SPAIN  HITS  OUTWARD  .        .       .       .  101 

IX.  ERSKINE'S  DANGEROUS  STUDY     .       .       .        .108 

X.    IN  A  YOUNG  WORLD 119 

XI.    FOR  ANOTHER'S  NAME 128 

XII.  DARK  MEMORIES    .       ...        .        .       .  136 

XIII.  BEULAH  SINGS  A  LULLABY 148 

XIV.  BEULAH'S  CONFESSION 158 

XV.  ANOTHER  VISITOR.        .        .        .        .        .        .  169 

XVI.    LOVER  AND  ENEMY 178 

CVII.    NED'S  TRIUMPH 190 

VIII.    WHERE  THE  SIGN  LAY 201 

XIX.  A  RESIGNATION  AND  AN  ACCEPTANCE        .       .  212 

XX.    A  WELCOME 224 


LEON    PONTIFEX. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BEULAH   SINGS    "  BEULAH   LAND." 

"YE  can't  git  a  ten-thousand-dollar  man  in  a 
five-hunderd-dollar  pulpit.  No,  sir;  ye  can't  do 
it.  Now,  preachin'  ain't  what  it  was  in  them  days 
when  He,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  went  around 
not  chargin'  any  thin',  and  eatin'  field-corn,  and 
ketchin'  His  own  fish,  and  preachin'  to  all  kinds 
o'  folks,  anywheres  as  the  sky'd  cover  Him.  No, 
sir ;  good  preachin'  nowadays  is  jest  like  other 
truck,  it's  wuth  what  it'll  fetch.  And  I  tell  ye, 
ye  can't  expect  to  git  no  ten-thousand-dollar 
man  down  here  into  this  little  five-hunderd-dollar 
parish." 

"  Wai',  yes ;  I  know,  I  know,  Deacon  Sextile ; 
but,  after  all,  it  don't  seem  as  though  we'd 
ought  to  take  up  with  anybody  too  —  'tarnal 
ridick'lous,  now  doos  it?" 


6  LEON  PONTIFEX. 

"Wai',  I  don'  know;  we're  commanded  by 
St.  Paul  not  to  look  on  a  man's  outside  figger. 
He's  a  singerlar-lookin'  creetur',  I  'low  —  but 
similarly,  ye  see,  he'll  come  dirt  cheap.  He 
'lows  he'll  include  the  whole  parish  business, 
fancy  and  reg'lar,  for  four  hunderd  and  fifty  dol- 
lars a  year.  No  harm  in  lettin'  the  poor  ornery 
creetur'  preach  once,  and  jedgin'  what  ye  think 
of  him,  anyway,  I  told  'em." 

The  Rev.  Leon  Pontifex  was  seen  approaching. 
He  was  tall,  with  powerful  broad  shoulders  slightly 
bowed ;  with  a  profusion  of  dull  yellow  hair,  negro-j 
ish  in  form  and  quality ;  with  pale  and  heavy  feat- 
ures, and  eyes  that  appeared  as  if  they  might  be 
blind,  they  were  so  dim,  sodden,  and  habitually 
downcast. 

The  young  maidens,  also  gathered  on  the  church 
porch  to  witness  the  approach  of  the  new  minister, 
retired  on  beholding  him  into  the  cloak-room,  and 
giggled  hysterically.  Formidable  gold-rimmed 
spectacles  glared  at  his  unique  and  unprepos- 
sessing person  with  piously  restrained  disfavor 
But  the  poor  object  of  this  unflattering  attention 
seemed  neither  to  see  nor  hear. 

The   fact,  patent   to   its   inhabitants,  that  this 


LEON  PONTIfEX.  7 

forlorn  little  village  of  Edmond  was  imminently 
an  important  railway  centre ;  that  the  new  pulpit 
cover  donated  by  the  "Ladies'  Society"  was  of 
silk  plush  and  a  careful  work  of  art ;  that  the 
bonnet  worn  by  the  leading  deacon's  lady  was  an 
actual  import  from  her  sister  in  New  York :  all 
seemed  to  make  no  more  impression  upon  the 
mind  of  the  Rev.  Leon  Pontifex  .than  upon  some 
sad  old  leafless  branch  that  the  wind  has  blown 
down. 

He  was  not  old,  and  yet  he  seemed  indefinitely 
old.  As  he  rose  in  the  pulpit,  some  gasping  chil- 
dren gave  up  at  last  the  unequal  struggle  with 
their  emotions  and  burst  into  a  paroxysm  of  audi- 
ble merriment.  The  minister's  sad,  dim  counte- 
nance did  not  change.  He  went  through  the 
preliminary  acts  of  the  service  in  a  voice  that 
filled  his  audience  with  wonder,  that  grew  more 
and  more  into  a  listening  awe  and  silence  ;  such 
a  great,  deep-rolling  voice,  full  of  expression,  ten- 
der or  awful,  and  vast,  as  though  strangely  con- 
fined in  the  little  painted  chapel  of  Edmond,  and 
capable,  should  it  get  out  rampant,  of  filling  the 
whole  hamlet  of  Edmond  and  important  wild 
stretches  beyond  ! 


